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FringeReview Scotland 2024

To Save The Sea

Sleeping Warrior

Genre: Musical Theatre

Venue: Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Festival:


Low Down

Broad sweeping storyline, based in truth but filled with creative flights of character filled fantasy. Tightly directed to keep the pace fast and flowing. The set, the lights and the action turn this from a decent musical, into a triumphant one.

Review

All production images by Mihaela Bodlovic

1995. Brent Spar. Shell. Greenpeace. For three weeks we were gripped by the occupation of a rig by an intrepid group of environmental activists taking on the might of the British Government and the conglomerate, Shell. An organisation who is not to be admired much, they continue to act in a manner ill befitting a company dedicated to clean and green energy, as the denouement makes clear in this high octane show.

It’s a musical in every sense of the word but it is not a factual retelling. We have on the one side, five much to be admired eco warriors, with a back story and a cause. They have flesh upon their characterful bones as a foreign and enigmatic leader Karl, (Matthew McKenna), takes the naïve student Colin (Nathan French) who falls for the estranged daughter of a moneyed family made rich by oil Engel (Katie Weir), the media coordinator and reporter chronicling the story Brianna (Kaylah Copeland), and the passionately confused mum of two boys off Rachel (Kara Swinney), from Shetland to the middle of the North Sea. On the other side, we have the caricatures of the baddies. Three Shell executives with dastardly plans and deeds to match, David (Ewan Somers), Rupert (David Rankine) and Karen (Helen Logan), supported by the political clout of a pragmatic Helmut Kohl (Logan) and a ridiculous John Major (Somers). If you are looking for subtle nuanced political discourse between them, this is not the show for you.

And to be fair, this is not their claim. This is a musical with shrill notes, high energy, broad sweeps and a message. It ends with that message writ large in their heartfelt pleas for action. And effective it feels too. The triumph of a musical is down to effective toying with your emotion, and this delivers the wholesale ideals in abundance without abundantly engaging overmuch with the ideas. And this has that in overload.

It bristles with such vitality, delivered at breakneck pace and with show stopping scenes, it is hard not to feel engaged with the whole malarkey. There are some beautiful pieces contained within – every time Somers as John Major is on, it is a delight, as the Shell executive, Rupert, Rankine is sublime, and such moves…, and the emotional vulnerability of Swinney’s Rachel tugs just at where the strings sit. And hats off to Sleeping Warrior for giving recent Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates, Kaylah Copeland and Nathan French roles – they are both equal to the task and plenty ready for this challenge.

Combined with a brilliant set and lighting which includes the use of headlamps for effect, this is creatively right at the edge of brilliance. Credit is due to designer Claire Halleran, lighting designer Simon Wilkinson and sound designer Fraser Milroy

What holds it back, for me, is a combination of the shrillness of the high notes, the hitting me over the head with the tale being told and the lack of moments that engage your mind. But I am no lover of musicals.

What I cannot deny is just how theatrical the entire thing is and how much those around me, who rose to applaud it, loved the entire package. It was an absolute triumph for them, and it felt like we were witnessing something quite special. For all the flaws I may see or have imagined, there is little doubt that Isla Cowan and Andy McGregor, combined with dramaturg Debbie Hannan have penned a smash hit which has brought the past into focus to help us understand what we must do to secure our future.

Published

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Sleeping Warrior